Recently, five of Arcadia High School’s very own students were accepted into the All-Southern California Honor Program. On Apr. 9 at 2:30 p.m., Janice Wu, William An, Yuquin Tang, Sala Yu, and Ashley Loh will be rehearsing and performing at Barnum Hall in Santa Monica with some of the best high school musicians in Southern California. Here is what they have to say on their accomplishments. 

Sala Yu, one of Southern California Band and Orchestra Association’s (SCSBOA) newest viola players, stated, “I found out through the SCSBOA website where they posted the results online.”

She is looking forward to their performance in April where “we’ll have all of the musicians get together and rehearse for the very first time.” 

Similarly, William An, a cellist, said that he got a text message from his friends saying that the results were on the SCSBOA website and so when he went to check, he found his name on the list for their orchestra. 

When asked about the process An explained that it was relatively simple. The audition excerpts were posted months beforehand and you just have to practice,” he said. “The recording was blind, no face only the sound file was accepted. It was also really draining trying to record all the things and excerpts and it took a couple hours to get them done.”

Although the process was difficult, An doesn’t regret any of it as he gets to be a part of something so reputable.

Ashley Loh stated that “it (seeing her acceptance) all happened really fast and [she] felt so happy at that moment.”

She is excited to learn more about playing in an orchestra and meeting new people in Santa Monica where they’ll be rehearsing and performing.

For SCSBOA’s new band members, Janice Wu and Yuquin (Cynthia) Tang, this has also been an incredible opportunity for them. 

Wu said that she was “excited, and pretty shocked that [she] got into such a prestigious ensemble.”

Although Wu won’t be able to perform with SCSBOA she still has a lot of love for her instrument which she discovered in fourth grade.

Currently she plays oboe in the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra as she is not a part of the band at Arcadia High School.

Besides the oboe she is still involved in the Arcadia Symphony Orchestra, playing the cello. She also plays the synth in percussion.”

Tang, on the other hand, stated, “I didn’t believe it at first because after I turned in my audition piece; I thought being a part of this band would be too difficult.” 

Tang is looking forward to “understanding how it works this year and attending their ‘orchestra-level’ band next year.”

Congratulations are in order for these talented students as they get a chance to be a part of an amazing group! They will learn a lot by being a part of the association and they all agree that this is not only a great opportunity, but that it will be a great and exciting experience for them.